Violette Eau de Parfum

Molinard is certainly an underestimated house, but it's a House deserving more recognition for sure! I am in love with their scents and will buy more. Its fragrances clearly are concocted with quality ingredients by true masters of the art of perfumery; sillage and longevity are never an issue, elements crafted in sublime balances, and one will always be able to detect almost each note in them. They might not appeal to the masses, but I don't think they should: they create masterpieces which have nothing to do with the overly sugary, fruity charmers the market craves for. For a week I have been wearing this beauty. Upon application the most prominent notes are a tender, delicate green violet with a hint of powder, and a refreshing, juicy yet subtle note of blackcurrant. After about 30 minutes the heart notes begin their journey up: again violet is the most prominent one, followed by an equally juicy peach - though very faint - and a glorious basket of violet leaves, slightly bitter. Iris then comes up, elegant, romantic and not at all overbearing. Here it does not overpower any other note. This is a dance of fairies, in the deep of a forest where all is about light and shadows. No rose, no green apples can be detected at any time; perhaps one could say that the juiciness is given by all fruits blended perfectly in this marvellous magic potion. A citrusy whisper can be smelled every now and then, but overall citruses are not prominent. THIS. IS. EXHILARATING. Nothing can evoke the spirit of the forest as much as violets and here they are the queens of a rather joyous, colourful, fun court. Molinard is a genius and I wish this house would get the recognition it truly deserves. Simply magnificent.

This smells just like Lolita Lempika if you streamlined it by removing the licorice, cherry and any other 'weird' qualities. Just pure Violet/Ivy and sugar, it's much more refined and grown up compared to Lolita Lempika and it has much better longevity! The only notes I detect are a Violet/Ivy smell, a sugar smell, and maybe a touch of Black current in the back. I understand what people mean by saying Violet smells like "Fabreeze" or "Lysol" in a way, but it's not in a bad way. When it settles the sweetness comes out more. It also reminds me of the smell of wet hair gel (LA LOOKS Gel specifically) that kind of wet and fresh quality. It's great to use to layer as a finishing touch when you want to add that touch of sugary freshness. I wanted something that just smells like those Violet candies, but I think Choco Violet by Mancera is a lot closer to that smell. The bottle is very beautiful, especially because the violet bottle matches the name Violette.

Here we have one more superb frag from the famous house from Grasse. After an initial Voilette blast, almost covering the citrus, we get a long battle between violette (flowers and leaf), iris and jasmine on one side, and peach, a sweet rose and a not so green apple on the other side, the whole battle being covered by white musks. It's a long fight, 1 to 2 hours, evoking the classical gourmands vs. florals competition, here shown in "live" ! The peach-apple/iris confrontation evokes that of Guerlain's Guet Apens or Royal Extract, both unfortunately discontinued ... In the end, Violette and Iris win the trophy with a lovely skin scent which lasts for many hours. Molinard couldn't deceive with this new frag in line with the color of their floral frags bottles, and wins the challenge!

This is really nice. I like the interesting twist from the crunchy green apple note that really works well with the other notes. Its somehow unlocked a long distant memory of a shampoo I used to use as a kid which was supposed to have an apple fragrance. The opening is all about iris, violet and violet leaf. Bright and exhilarating. Those three notes quickly settle and then I am very aware of the apple note along with some sweetness from the rose and peach. I hardly detect any musk but the blackcurrant is definitely in the background. A gorgeous fresh unisex fragrance that I can see me wearing all through the spring. I think it encapsulates the freshness and newness of spring. A time of renewal and reawakening. Moderate sillage and longevity.

Oh, this is gorgeous! Opens with an explosion of parma violet, but soon mellows out so the other notes have room to breathe. For the most part, I detect the violet, musk, iris, jasmine and a bit of aquatic-sweetness that's either coming from the apple, rose or lemon (or a combination of), but I can't really pinpoint it. The purple florals are LOUD in this one. Something that really took me by surprise is how similar the drydown is to The Favourite by Penhaligon's! I'm struggling to decide which to get because this one is fantastic value for money and has better longevity but I do admit the other is a little smoother and well-rounded. Hard to really call it between the two.